Vehicular steering wheel and column assembly including torsional damper device

A steering wheel and column assembly, comprising:

• a steering column housing;
• a rotatable steering assembly, comprising:
• a steering column shaft rotatably coupled to the steering column housing;
• and
• a steering wheel fixedly coupled to the steering column shaft;
• and
• a torsional damper device, comprising:
• a stator body fixedly coupled to the steering column housing, the stator body having a first predetermined torsional stiffness;
• a rotor body fixedly coupled to the rotatable steering assembly, the rotor body having a second predetermined torsional stiffness;
• and
• a resilient element maintaining the stator body and the rotor body in frictional engagement.

A supplemental inflatable restraint (SIR) coil assembly for deployment within a steering wheel and column assembly of the type that includes a steering column housing, a steering column shaft rotatably coupled to the steering column housing, a steering wheel fixedly coupled to the steering column shaft, and an SIR module mounted on the steering wheel, the SIR coil assembly comprising:

• a stator body configured to be fixedly coupled to the steering column housing comprising a raised annular rim;
• a rotor body configured to be fixedly coupled to at least one of the steering wheel and the steering column shaft, the rotor body comprising an outer radial lip frictionally engaging the raised annular rim to produce a predetermined coulomb torque frictional resistance between approximately 0.1 Newton meters and approximately 0.4 Newton meters;
• and
• an SIR coil disposed between the stator body and the rotor body and configured to be electrically coupled to the SIR module.